Detroit Lions Fans Need to Chill

I have been a Detroit Lions fan my whole life (28 years). The last Detroit Lions playoff win was 1991. I have not seen them win a single playoff game. The worst part is… Im not even from Detroit, I didnt even grow up in Michigan. I am from Las Vegas, NV. The Lions are my team because its where my families from. Its the team my grandpa and dad rooted for. I am a die hard none the less.

Now dont get me wrong I have also perpetually been frustrated with the team my entire life. I also know a lot about football and how teams are run. I also am aware that people are individuals, in other words what the last guy did is not what you did. Now on top of being a losing franchise with fans that care, the Lions also (like all franchises) have a group of loser fans that do not know how this whole thing works. See below video.

Now again I understand where the frustration comes from. We are not good often, and even when we are we dont do anything with it. I listen to Woodward Sports quite a bit for my Detroit sports news, and for the most part enjoy it. I understand that Adham needs to keep the show interesting and entertaining, and without a doubt Americans love hearing about people bitch about shit. But lets address some things that get lost in his nonsensical rant that Lions fans need to wait and see.

The Lions Are NOT Winning and Never Have Been Good

This is true 100%. The Lions are famously one of the worst franchises in all of sports. The only way to move forward though is to start anew. So lets go back to when the Lions were a competitive in the NFL. In 2017 they went 9-7 under Jim Caldwell and decided to get rid of him for Matt Patricia. Now even I at the time supported getting rid of Caldwell and still do. We were never going to win a Super Bowl or even a Playoff game with him. What we did have was a pretty strong roster. A roster that fell apart due to terrible drafts and free agents with crazy contracts that put us in a bind to this day. When Matt Patricia came in he tried to install the “Patriot way” and that cost a lot of players that did not want to play for him or did not fall into whatever Patricia thought a player should be. This led to three years of shit draft picks and dumbass free agent signings that put us in a hole.

So this is what we should consider the starting point. Sheila Ford Hamp took over as the owner of the team in June 2020. Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell were hired in January 2021. So almost top to bottom we have got all new people in the building. So can we agree that this is where we should start judging the moves the team has made? If its not then how are we going to move forward ever? I will be using this as where I will begin judging this team.

But the Falcons, Jets, and Giants Are Doing Good

2021 Detroit Lions Roster

It is true that the Seahawks, Falcons, Jets, and Giants have started hot. It also true that the Packers, Broncos, Chargers, Buccaneers, Colts, Raiders, Rams, 49ers, and Saints have not lived up to expectations. If you look at the above graphic, you can see the roster this regime started off with. Not good. I have been closely following the NFL since 2004 and I said this was one of the rosters I have ever seen. I said last season that I thought this team could realistically win 0 games. Compared to listed teams above the expectations should be low. There were a lot of additions this season but mostly young players that need time to develop. So let them develop. To go back to the teams that started out hot, it happens every year. The Lions werent one of those teams. It happens. To the teams that have not lived up to expectations, some will get it together, some wont.

Now heres the thing about team building that the “Same old Lions” would have done that they did not do this year. They would have taken the 40 million in cap space and taken a swing at three or four guys that they would have overpaid for (remember Trey Flowers, Justin Coleman, and Jesse James). When you do that it sets your team back believe it or not. Heres what the new Lions are doing. They brought back guys that they see potential in (Tracy Walker, Romeo Okwara, Charles Harris) still on pretty reasonable short deals. They brought in a handful of young guys that have shown potential on one year prove it deals (DJ Chark, Chris Board, Josh Cominsky) that way if they perform you can extend them, if not then you can just let them walk. Are you seeing how this is different? There are even some big contracts still that they can get rid of this year: Michael Brockers ($10 million savings), Halo Vaitai ($7.6 million savings), Romeo Okwara (7.5 million savings). Extending Jeff Okudah could save another $10 million, and yes we should extend Okudah. Then theres the Jared Goff situation. It doesnt look like we will be able to trade him but if we cut him that would save us another $20 million. I think its more likely he sticks around and we draft a QB this year. So we are looking at another offseason with another $50-80 million in cap. That with another two high first round pick draft, and this roster still has a lot of turnover before the 2023 season.

Dan Campbell Has NO Credentials to be a Head Coach

Now this one just has to be pure frustration right Adham? I mean most new head coaches have less credentials than Dan did. He was an interim head coach for the Dolphins in 2015 for 12 games, so he got a test run as the head coach for almost a whole season. He then went and spent 5 or 6 years as an assistant head coach for one of the better coaches of the past two decades in Sean Payton. I will give you that he does not have coordinator experience, look at Zac Taylor. A lot of other head coaches are only coordinators for a year before they are hired also.

Credentials aside I actually agree that if we get to November still with 1 loss maybe we should start to think about firing him. Where the loser mentality comes into play is loser Lions fans wanted to do it before the bye week. Adham in this clip says we should have done it last year. This might be the most outrageous take in the video. If we just fire our coach every time the team just isnt performing, especially with a weak roster, then we will just never have a coach. Campbell wants to be here. If we are axing everyone then who is going to want to come coach in Detroit? Its not attractive in the future to be the team that gets rid of everyone every time they dont over perform. Is Dan the guy? Im not sure this offseason we were talking about how the team was in every game and needed more offense. The beginning of this season we were talking about how bad the defense is. Now its just fire Dan. Who are we giving a shot next? Is it Ben Johnson? Is it Aaron Glen? Is it Duece Staley? Or do we be a little PATIENT and see what Dan does? Every other franchise does this. What makes the forever loser Lions any different? Hell, we drafted a wide receiver in the first round that we didnt even know if he would be able to play this year. Players actually want to play for this guy. If we stay the course we may be able to get guys to come to Detroit.

Conclusion

I think most fans of this franchise dont understand that the “Same old Lions” paradox is caused by exactly what Adham is saying here. If you cant move the past thats where you will live, and the Lions past has not been a fun place to live. The team was never supposed to good this year (looking at you Ermani). Did we want improvement? Of course. We may still get it. We let Patricia and Quinn run this thing into the ground. Three years is a good amount of time to measure if Dan and Brad are going to work out. I think Brad has done a better job than any GM we have ever had. There are pieces on this team that look good (See: Aidan Hutchinson, Malcom Rodriguez, Josh Paschal, Alim McNeill, Kerby Joseph, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Jameson Williams?). We have assets and cap space for the future. We literally have nothing to lose to give this guy a chance to fix things here, and if he doesnt we can reassess in January.